Everything is a Remix: Reality
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TRANSCRIPT
Everything is a remix. Every song, every movie, every meme, every idea, every invention, every discovery. Everything we create is copied, transformed and combined from our culture.
And just like our creations are remixed from the world around us, our beliefs are remixed from what we watch, read and listen to.
And this is a disturbing idea. It’s one thing to remix a song or a story or a product, it’s another to remix... yourself, your identity. It’s like programming yourself… without really knowing it.
The number of paths you can choose from is endless and each one leads to a different version of yourself.
Our mediascape is an infinity of rabbit holes. You can disappear into any one you like, and when you awaken from the spell, you've changed. You've absorbed new ideas and they've altered who you are. Repeat this process over and over and over, and your identity can be transformed.
If you're not aware of what’s happening, you can get fooled. You can get lied to, you can get exploited, you can become cannon fodder in someone else's culture war.
But even more importantly, you can fool yourself. You can repeatedly choose more and more extreme rabbit holes and fall deeper and deeper into an illusion you chose, into a hall of mirrors where what's reflected back is your own darkest fantasies.
Many of us are plummeting into crowdsourced nightmares about Bill Gates or 5G or the deep state.
How can we prevent ourselves from getting lost in the funhouse?
To keep a grip on reality, you need to be aware of how you make sense of media and the world. Having awareness, whether it's of your habits or your emotions or your biases, gives you back some power and lets you make wiser choices.
And the first thing you need to be aware of is where our sensemaking starts. It starts with patterns.
What media does, all media, is shrink reality way, way, way down into a digestible size. You can’t drink directly from the firehose. Each media outlet features stories it feels are important and from these selections we spot patterns. Vox gives you one type of pattern, Breitbart gives you another, PBS Newshour gives you yet another. And when you use social media, you're making the pattern yourself, with each click, with each follow, with each like.
These patterns feel convincing, they feel real. But they're actually just repetitions you spotted from a tiny selection of events.
You then set about distorting what these patterns mean. You turn them into little stories that help you understand and remember.
And in the process you sensationalize them, you turn them into juicier stories. You generalize and exaggerate. You strip away nuance and contradictions, and you add conflict and drama. Then you share these stories based not just on their truth or their importance but based on what they make you feel, and much of the time that feeling is anger.
This process of simplification and distortion then produces a master narrative. It produces an ideology. You turn into some version of conservative or liberal or libertarian or progressive or increasingly now, we’re turning into conspiracists.
Your ideology, this highly imperfect contraption that you remixed, probably without even being aware of it, then molds what you see, it puts a spin on everything. Different people can see the exact same thing and draw opposite conclusions.
Ideology is like a program you’re now running. We like to blame the media for programming us, but we’re just as responsible. We develop our ideologies ourselves over the years and decades, based on what we choose to watch, read and listen to.
By just being aware of this process, we can see how meager and lacking our perception of the world is. Our ideology is a simplification of a simplification of a simplification.
Knowing this can help us be more modest and less defensive. It can make us more willing to learn from perspectives that contradict ours.
But most importantly of all, it justifies us having some small measure of doubt about our own beliefs. Critical thinking isn't just about doubting everybody else. It's about doubting yourself.
Conspiracy theories and nonsense and extremism and lies cannot tolerate doubt. They can't absorb criticism and grow. The truth defeats or incorporates our doubts and grows stronger with time.
In the end, the truth wins… eventually.
SOURCES
Audio
DJ Shadow, “Building Steam With a Grain of Salt [Alternate Take]” (2005)
spoti.fi/2NKXcGe
apple.co/2VOs9xZ
De La Soul, “Say No Go” (1989)
amzn.to/2NElLVs
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, “Objects in Mirror (Are Closer Than They Appear)” (2019)
spoti.fi/3eNJajb
apple.co/2CT38e9
Michael Andrews, “Goldfish” (2005)
spoti.fi/3g7ab18
apple.co/3eMu7WN
Video
Straight Outta Compton (2015) amzn.to/2YQw4fD
Everything is a Remix (2015) everythingisaremix.info
Neil Gaiman, Masterclass (2019) masterclass.com/
Get Out (2017) amzn.to/3dTTjK1
Halt and Catch Fire (2014) netflix.com/title/70302182
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) amzn.to/3gdOlct
Ex Machina (2014) amzn.to/2VxFbjg
Mr. Robot (2015) amzn.to/3dR3m25
Westworld (2016) hbo.com/westworld
Vertigo (1958) amzn.to/38fJa93
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) amzn.to/3io2sxV
Alice in Wonderland (2010) amzn.to/2BSWBzP
Alice (1988) amzn.to/2CVRoYu
Get Out (2017) amzn.to/3dTTjK1
Now You See Me (2013) amzn.to/3eNFTjT
Pinocchio (1940) amzn.to/2NI8U4z
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) amzn.to/3eNsGr3
Enemy at the Gates (2001) amzn.to/31tCNO8
Saving Private Ryan (1998) amzn.to/3g8efy4
Memento (2000) amzn.to/2BoOjQb
127 Hours (2010) amzn.to/3iiO61G
Dredd (2012) amzn.to/2VyDBNN
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) amzn.to/3gbEm7j
Enter the Dragon (1973) amzn.to/31xPCXQ
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) amzn.to/3dNAU12
Sin City (2005) amzn.to/3igzqQC
The Lady from Shanghai (1947) amzn.to/2VspoSH
Sweet Charity (1969) amzn.to/3dJGIJ3
Under the Skin (2013) amzn.to/38fLexP
Alice in Wonderland (1951) amzn.to/3ghsWyT
Halt and Catch Fire (2014) netflix.com/title/70302182
Visitors (2013) amzn.to/2BoLGxP
WarGames (1983) amzn.to/3eLxeyg
The Matrix (1999) amzn.to/31wODqA
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (2007) amzn.to/3dHU2O1
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) amzn.to/3gdRitz
Alien (1979) amzn.to/3eOoyaz
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) amzn.to/3eOoyXQ
The Karate Kid (1984) amzn.to/31wjvru
Boyhood (2014) amzn.to/31vrnJH
The X Files (1998) amzn.to/3gerq0M
Visitors (2013) amzn.to/2BoLGxP
TRON: Legacy (2010) amzn.to/2VxvnW6
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) amzn.to/31tEB9S
UHF (1989) amzn.to/3eMrZ1f
Dear White People (2017) netflix.com/title/80095698?source=35
Under the Skin (2013) amzn.to/38fLexP
Eighth Grade (2018) amzn.to/2Vzyc9j
Poltergeist (1982) amzn.to/3iriFlU
Nightcrawler (2014) amzn.to/2NIChDQ
Carl Sagan, Cosmos (1980) amzn.to/2Zp47ub
Barton Fink (1991) amzn.to/2YMJEQR
Network (1976) amzn.to/2YLdlSi
Watchmen (2019) hbo.com/watchmen
Wonder Woman (2017) amzn.to/2Zrdzx0
The Avengers (2012) amzn.to/2BoLjTW
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) amzn.to/38h76co
Dear White People (2017) netflix.com/title/80095698?source=35
This is Not a Conspiracy Theory (2020) thisisnotaconspiracytheory.com
Visitors (2013) amzn.to/2BoLGxP
Westworld (2016) hbo.com/westworld
TRON: Legacy (2010) amzn.to/2VxvnW6
Sorry to Bother You (2018) amzn.to/2NKNQKB
Devs (2020) hulu.com/series/devs-fd2f6cc3-dafc-4741-ae2e-d86494f3ca51
Inside Out (2015) amzn.to/3eYPrs8
Eighth Grade (2018) amzn.to/2Vzyc9j
Poltergeist (1982) amzn.to/3iriFlU
Nightcrawler (2014) amzn.to/2NIChDQ
Dear White People (2017) netflix.com/title/80095698?source=35
Leave No Trace (2018) amzn.to/38edkcQ
The Staggering Girl (2019) mubi.com/t/web/global/43y3rxz
F for Fake (1973) amzn.to/3gpvT0L
Undone (2019) amzn.to/2BeQRjX
Avengers: Endgame (2019) amzn.to/2VBosvo
Dark City (1998) amzn.to/38fn06K
Ema (2019) mubi.com/t/web/global/43y3rxz
This is Not a Conspiracy Theory Final Cut Now Live
I am thrilled to announce that the final cut of This is Not a Conspiracy Theory is now live! This cut features a new and updated opening, visual improvements to the first couple episodes, a new audio mix and a variety of tweaks. This is the definitive version of This is Not a Conspiracy Theory and it's what will be burned to blu-ray and DVD. Run time is 94 minutes. (Click here if you purchased with Vimeo on Demand.)
This is Not a Conspiracy Theory also has a brand new trailer. Please share it far and wide!
Up next I'm producing subtitles and one final, closing-up-shop video in which I'll discuss what I've learned on this eight-year journey and say good-bye.
THIS IS NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY (2020) Official Trailer
Hey folks, here’s the trailer for my new series, This is Not a Conspiracy Theory. "It’s a documentary feature about how systems -- not people -- control our lives. You can purchase the complete series here.
My latest documentary is complete!
After eight years, my latest documentary This is Not a Conspiracy Theory is now complete. While it certainly wasn’t the only thing I worked on for those eight years, it was my primary focus and I think it’s the most important work I’ve done. You can buy the series here. The price gets you the complete series (100 minutes) plus a whole bunch of extras.
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Two Major Announcements
Hey folks in case you missed it, the last episode of the This is Not a Conspiracy Theory podcast features a couple major announcements that might be of interest. Check it out below.
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THE END: IN PRAISE OF CREDITS (Transcript)
This is a transcript for the video “THE END: In Praise of Credits.” Click above to watch the video.
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Endings are special. Endings are those final, fleeting moments before a chapter of our lives closes forever. They’re a small window where we acknowledge that a time has passed and will never return.
In stories, it’s often endings that are the most unforgettable. Endings can be heartbreaking. They can be horrifying. They can be hilarious. They can be chilling. They can be triumphant. They can be melancholy. They can be cathartic. They can create a flash of insight. Or offer a moment of solace.
Endings are a goodbye. They’re a goodbye to the short emotional experience of a story. And occasionally, they’re much more. They can be a goodbye to who we were.
This happens most often when a series you’ve watched for years ends. We say goodbye to not just a show and its characters and its creators, but to an era of our lives as well.
And after these stories end, the screen goes black, the music rises, and the credits roll. And we are left alone. Even when we’re with others, the closing credits are a private moment where we can contemplate and absorb an experience.
Closing credits can be a brief meditation, where you can ponder a mystery, where you can mourn, where you can stare into the existential void, where you can just appreciate how a story has enriched your understanding of life. Closing credits allow us to reflect. You can grow a little bit in these moments while the credits scroll past and the music plays.
These moments don't happen often. Plenty of the time, once the credits roll, you just wanna watch something else. But Netflix in particular seems over-eager for you to queue up the next thing. The closing credits are often reduced to a tiny picture-in-picture while a full screen promo runs. Other times, the next episode of a show will autoplay in five seconds.
Again, very often, this is fine. You do just want the next episode of Making a Murderer.
But in those rare and special moments when it’s not fine, it feels crass and invasive when somebody's software won't just leave you alone. In our increasingly fast and noisy culture, closing credits offer a brief respite.
There's one ending in our lives for which there is no autoplay next. This is the final fade to black. And we all go back to where we came from.
This happens to us all once. But only once.
The rest of the time endings are something more. Ending are also beginnings. They’re beginnings that are imbued with new wisdom and new empathy. We start new chapters of our lives where we might be kinder, be braver, be better. Where we take time to appreciate being here, on the very best world of all for one more day.
New Video: THE END: In Praise of Credits
Hey everybody, I’ve got a new video! It’s called “THE END": In Praise of Credits” and it’s a celebration of endings and closing credits, and a criticism of autoplay next. I hope you enjoy it!
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MUSIC FEATURED
“Cuckoo!” by Mostly Britten amzn.to/2EVXUPt
“Breathe Me” by Sia amzn.to/2JArGYU
“An Ending, A Beginning” by Dustin O’Halloran amzn.to/2AGPTtI
“Where We’re Going” by Hans Zimmer amzn.to/2RzM5QD
“Any Day Now” by Chuck Jackson amzn.to/2DgtZjj
FILMS FEATURED
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial amzn.to/2JxePGL
Rushmore amzn.to/2RqVxW8
Boyhood amzn.to/2CWLLab
Fargo amzn.to/2CV64Vu
Life of Brian netflix.com/title/699257
You Can Count On Me amzn.to/2Jx3INY
Melancholia amzn.to/2SIiUfw
Ex Machina amzn.to/2JvwSNB
Gravity amzn.to/2CVrrpK
Lost in Translation amzn.to/2Ro7V9i
The Shape of Water amzn.to/2Jv8J9F
The Usual Suspects amzn.to/2SCKbQn
Moonlight amzn.to/2JuLkVU
The Graduate amzn.to/2DgX9Pp
Withnail and I amzn.to/2Rr1PFl
Mad Men amzn.to/2JxglIK
Six Feet Under amzn.to/2SD2QLY
The Wire amzn.to/2JvbBUh
Breaking Bad amzn.to/2RtvltY
The Sopranos amzn.to/2RuMKCJ
Being John Malkovich amzn.to/2Jv9sHV
Cabaret amzn.to/2CVqZrK
The Big Lebowski amzn.to/2AGllrW
Twin Peaks: The Return amzn.to/2SD68P9
The Walking Dead amzn.to/2Rth6FD
Synecdoche New York amzn.to/2SzW75z
The Shape of Water amzn.to/2Jv8J9F
Tokyo Story amzn.to/2Om6aHQ
Game Night amzn.to/2JvN6WU
Making a Murderer netflix.com/title/80000770
Citizen Kane amzn.to/2qvlTet
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind amzn.to/2CUOfWI
Her amzn.to/2Rtiecl
Carol amzn.to/2JytFg7
Atlanta amzn.to/2SFyRCS
Frances Ha amzn.to/2RqYvtK
Inherent Vice amzn.to/2Jx7siu
The New World amzn.to/2RtiJ6d
New Video: Palette Power
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TRANSCRIPT:
A palette is a selection of colors from which an artist paints. But palettes don’t just apply to visual art. They apply to just about any kind of creative work.
For instance, the selection of instruments in a song is a palette. Two guitars, a bass, drums and a vocalist is a classic rock palette. If you start plucking a harp half-way through a rock song, it’s probably gonna sound out of place.
Another example, a film’s genre is a palette. When people go see a thriller, they expect certain conventions, like a moment where the hero is at the mercy of the villain. This is an obligatory element of the genre. You can—and should—bend and twist and subvert these rules, but you can’t simply ignore them. If you do, much of the audience will be frustrated with your film and they won’t know why. It’s because you didn’t stick to the palette or at least acknowledge it. For more on this, read Shawn Coyne’s The Story Grid.
Palettes are recurring styles and elements within your work. They simplify your aesthetic and make it feel more unified and cohesive. They can also help organize and structure your work.
Palettes aren’t just for visuals artists. Whatever it is you’re working on, see if you can incorporate the power of palettes.
"Basic Elements of Creativity" shirts restocked
Black "Basic Elements of Creativity" shirts have been restocked in all sizes, including small and XXL. Head over to the shop to pick one up. Order now for five bucks off and you get my latest video series, This is Not a Conspiracy Theory, for free!
Multiyear project coming to close
Six years later, my doc series "This is Not a Conspiracy Theory" is finally entering its last phase of production. This is an exciting time and I've started an audio diary podcast about the whole experience. This is Not a Conspiracy Theory can be purchased here.
You can listen to the first episode above. See below to subscribe to the podcast.
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NEW VID: WHY DIVERSITY WINS
Find out how diversity makes us more innovative, more productive and smarter, while ultimately making us stronger.
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TRANSCRIPT:
When people say “diversity” they’re generally referring to three things: race, sex, and sexual orientation, and increasingly, people are referring to gender identification. But diversity is also about something else that it’s important we remember. It’s also about thinking differently, about looking at the world in different ways.
This kind of diversity -- diversity of thought -- is the hidden advantage of diversity because it better enables us to solve complex problems. Complex problems come in lots of different forms: How do I grow grow my business? How do we decrease poverty in our county? How do we reduce carbon emissions? All of these are complex problems -- they’re incredibly stubborn and difficult to solve. These kinds of problems are so difficult that they have not been solved and most efforts to will fail.
The key to solving problems like these is to try lots of different tactics until you finally find something that works. And that’s what diversity gives us -- it gives us lots of angles from which to attack problems.
So how do we think more diversely? By incorporating different paradigms. A paradigm is how you see the world, it’s your outlook. So a politician, a writer, a technologist all interpret the world in different ways -- that’s their paradigm.
People with different paradigms use different tools, different problem solving methods. So a politician thinks in terms of policies and public support, a writer thinks in stories, a technologist thinks in hardware and software -- so they use these kinds of tools to solve problems.
So diverse thinkers have different paradigms -- different ways of looking at the world -- and this means they use different tools to solve problems.
But diverse thinkers and diverse groups have more advantages because they can also cooperate and compete with each other.
So for instance, if Business A doesn’t have one kind of tool, it can tap into another business who does -- they can cooperate. And Business A also has to compete with Business, B, C, D and so on. And the winner of this contest will likely be better, cheaper and/or faster.
Now what’s sometimes forgotten about diversity is that it incorporates different, conflicting ideologies -- people with different paradigms who may not get along very well.
So it’s liberals, conservatives, libertarians, socialists, the religious, the non-religious, all finding ways to peacefully compete and cooperate. Each will win at different times because their tools will be better suited to certain problems. And if they can’t win enough, their paradigm will be phased out over time.
Diversity is the strength of democracies, free markets, and open platforms. Diversity tends to beat less diverse rivals. And it doesn’t win because it’s right, because it’s just, or because it’s moral. It might be all those things, but that isn’t why it wins. Diversity wins because it is a better way to solve complex problems.
It’s more innovative, it’s more productive, it’s more adaptive, and it’s smarter. It makes us stronger because it allows us to cooperate with some groups, while forcing us to compete with others.
When you’re trying to solve difficult, complex problems beware of groupthink and echo chambers. Consider how you can become more diverse, how you can incorporate different paradigms and different tools.